Companies' Efforts to Lower Inventories Adds to
Volatility

The spreading effort among companies to keep inventories low is adding a dose of short-term volatility and higher prices to already unpredictable commodity markets.

"Just-in-time" inventory-management practices have helped many companies reduce the costs of stockpiling raw materials. But users of commodities, who largely have cut their inventories of the hard assets, have endured oil prices at five-year highs, natural-gas...